1689.] VERSAILLES. 185 



of Mercury, and of Apollo. The magnificence of 

 their decorations, pictures of the great Italian 

 masters, sculptures, frescoes, mosaics, tapestries, 

 vases and statues of silver and gold ; the vista 

 of light and splendor that opened through the 

 wide portals ; the courtly throngs, feasting, danc- 

 ing, gaming, promenading, conversing, formed a 

 scene which no palace of Europe could rival or 

 approach. Here were all the great historic names 

 of France, princes, warriors, statesmen, and all 

 that was highest in rank and place ; the flower, in 

 short, of that brilliant society, so dazzling, capti- 

 vating, and illusory. In former years, the king 

 was usually present, affable and gracious, mingling 

 with his courtiers and sharing their amusements ; 

 but he had grown graver of late, and was more 

 often in his cabinet, laboring with his ministers on 

 the task of administration, which his extravagance 

 and ambition made every day more burdensome. 1 



There was one corner of the world where his 

 emblem, the sun, would not shine on him. He 

 had done his best for Canada, and had got nothing 

 for his pains but news of mishaps and troubles. He 

 was growing tired of the colony which he had nursed 

 with paternal fondness, and he was more than half 

 angry with it because it did not prosper. Denon- 

 ville's letters had grown worse and worse ; and, 



1 Saint-Simon speaks of these assemblies. The halls in question 

 were finished in 1682; and a minute account of them, and of the par- 

 ticular use to which each was destined, was printed in the Mercure Fran- 

 gais of that year. See also Soulie, Notice du Mustfe imperial de Versailles, 

 where copious extracts from the Mercure are given. The grands apparte- 

 ments are now entirely changed in appearance, and turned into an historic 

 picture gallery. 



